(a) Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with a memory device having a hiding and swing plug and method thereof, especially with the invention of the USB plug, namely being able to hide inside the body and swing freely when pushed out of the body.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
In general, the term such as memory device is used to describe an electronic memory device using the flash memory as its memory storage device. And is a fairly small virtual hard-drive device in terms of its physical size. Because it is small and easy to carry with, more and more people have begun using such a device. But only by inserting the device into a universal serial bus (USB) receptacle on a PC or a notebook can the virtual hard-drive device function. The USB plugs of these kinds of devices are usually quite fragile, and once damaged they can no longer be connected to the computers via a USB receptacle. Therefore, methods of protecting the USB plug should be designed and developed. At the moment, the only means of protection of the plug itself is to simply cover it by a removable cover, covered when not is use. However, because the small size of the cover, it can be easily lost sometimes.
Furthermore, because of the many different manufacturers of PCs and notebooks, the design, hence the location of the USB port will be different. In addition, because of the many different manufacturers (hence various designs of sizes, shapes, etc.) of the memory sticks, some of the sticks can be thicker than, for example, a notebook, thus requiring the user to adjust the position of the notebook by lifting it up slightly in order to successfully insert the memory stick into the USB receptacle.
Since the usage of USB connected devices such as keyboard, mouse have gradually become more common, most recently designed products of notebooks and PCs will normally have two or more USB ports included, and usually have their layout of the ports adjacent to each other. In other words, when using different shaped, sized memory sticks users sometimes have to squeeze it together with other USB connected devices like a mouse or a keyboard in close vicinity. And due to different sizes of the memory sticks it is sometimes difficult (and occasionally not possible) to insert the stick into the USB port on the computer.
The patents concerning the designs of memory sticks, including such as the USB interface connector described in “Blue-Tooth Device With Dual Rotating Shafts,” Taiwan's (TW) utility model patent No. 566,589 filed on Apr. 14, 2002, to a device with dual rotating shafts is connected to an electronic device that is capable of transmitting the blue-tooth data. Another a TW utility model patent No. 555,125 “Portable Data Storage Device,” filed on Dec. 31, 2002, which the second power connection portion is connected to the first power connection portion when the battery dock is connected to the USB main body. Further some USB interface connectors described in “Portable Data Storage Device Having A Rotating Connector,” TW utility model patent No. 551,523 filed on Jun. 6, 2002; “Assembling Structure Of Portable Memory Device,” TW utility model patent No. 549,493 filed on Nov. 9, 2001; “Portable memory storage device,” TW utility model patent No. 531,028 filed on Jan. 11, 2002; and a TW utility model patent No. 499,077 “Swiveling Adaptor,” filed on Aug. 29, 2001. Chen et al. also described a design of “Universal Serial Bus,” in U.S. Pat. No. D488,158 which filed on Apr. 6, 2004.
However, none of these designs, by many designers, engineers of various manufacturers in the industry, has been able to present a satisfactory solution to solving the various problems mentioned in the last three paragraphs above, namely the prevention of damaging the USB plug, lose of the cover, difficulties with connecting a memory stick to a PC or a notebook. So solving the problems above appeared to have some difficulties over the past.